Soprano helicon
This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2022) |
The soprano helicon (in E♭) is a coiled brass instrument from the helicon family.
The design of the modern soprano helicon takes acoustical advantage of the helicon's easy blowing, but is not simply another circular
The crew of
So the next prototype, which was ready a month later, used a regular bore of B♭ Flugelhorn and a deep cup Flugelhorn mouthpiece. The tapering of the main tube had to be reshaped but the bell size stayed the same – 160 mm (6+1⁄4 in). The instrument had four valves (the 4th used as a quart valve). The main tube was also reshaped by moving the tuning slide after the 4th valve instead of having it at the beginning like the Flugelhorns. The 4th valve also had a trigger mechanism (which is operated with the right thumb) to extend the tube for better intonation of tones between low F-sharp and pedal C. The 4th valve itself is operated by the left hand. Another characteristic of this instrument was the bore profile, which remained conical even between the valve sections. The instrument still preserved the richness and volume of the 1st prototype, had a great low register, and it also played well in the higher "soprano" tessitura.
The instrument was ready for the first public appearance.
The Helicon Ensemble, conducted by
Sound characteristics
As expected, the Soprano helicon:
- Has its own and special timbre and musical personality (to illustrate it: halfway between modern valve corno da caccia and B-flat flugelhorn)
- It’s an easy blowing instrument, well balanced in all registers and dynamics
- It has a useful range of more than three octaves, starting with pedal tones up to C6
- It could be played easily at a high speed and has a potential to become a virtuoso instrument
- It sounds "big enough" to bear a leading melodic line as well as in different Band scorings as in Symphony orchestra
References
- ^ "I.E.T. Festival for Euphonium and Tuba 2015" (PDF). IET Festival. Retrieved 2 May 2022.